


The Party

by mickeylovesian



Series: The Coming Wave [5]
Category: Shameless (US), gallavich - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:48:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickeylovesian/pseuds/mickeylovesian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Mandy has a party for her birthday and the Milkovichs and Gallaghers, as well as the entire neighborhood are there.  Again, this takes place in the A Long December universe, so the boys have been rebuilding their relationship over the past few months.  also this is my first attempt at multiple pov characters…idk how it worked out</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Party

“Your shot, firecrotch. Let’s see if you got what it takes,” Mickey taunted from across the table. Ian looked down at the last remaining cup on their side and over to the single cup at the other end. Beer pond shouldn’t be so serious, but when you are playing against the Milkovichs’ everything always was. 

Mandy stood next to Mickey waving her hands in front of the cup to distract him and Lip clapped him on the back.

“Come on dude. If we lose Mandy will never let me hear the end of it,” he said.

“I got it. Back off,” Ian said. It all came down to this. Mickey had made the last cup, but House Rules decreed that if both Lip and Ian made it, the game wasn’t over. Lip had held up his end of the bargain and now it was on Ian. He gave Mickey one final look, who simply raised his eyebrows and smirked. Ian aimed for the cup, felt the ball leave his hand and watched it miss by a mere inch. Everyone spoke at once.

“Fuck!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Fuck you Gallaghers!”

Ian downed the last of his beer and caught Mickey’s eye over the rim. “Nice try Gallagher,” he said with a smirk and Mandy ran around the table to gloat.

“I need another beer,” Ian said heading towards the keg.

It was July, and thanks to a recent heat wave it was still 95 degrees even at 11:30 at night. The music was blasting through the stolen speakers as Ian made his way through the crowd. It was Mandy’s 18th birthday party, and although she had only told her brothers and the Gallaghers’, in true Southside fashion, half the neighborhood had shown up, crammed into the Milkovich’s small backyard. At least they were making money off charging people for cups.

Ian had been nervous enough about being around Mickey and both of their families, let alone the entire neighborhood. Despite the fact that Mandy knew, and Ian had let it slip that Lip knew too, they didn’t often spend time together around other people. For the most part, Ian was ok with that, although he had been interested to see how the night would end up. 

Mickey had kept his distance for the first hour, giving a brief hello and heading back over to talk with his brothers, but as the night wore on, and they got drunker, the tension lessened. A few times, Ian had looked up to find Mickey staring at him from across the yard. Most of the time he would look away quickly, as if he had been caught doing something bad, but more than once they had held eye contact and Mickey had smiled. It was those moments where Ian longed for things to be different; to live a life where he could have just gone over there and kissed him in front of everybody, or for Mickey to simply cross the distance between them. And then he had; it had been Mickey’s idea to play beer pong and they had spent the last half hour fucking with each other, stealing glances and flirting in their own way. It had been nice. 

Now, at the keg, Ian watched Mickey head back over to where Iggy was sitting, lighting a cigarette on the way. Svetlana was sitting a few feet away with some of her whore friends, taking swigs from the cheap store brand vodka Mandy had bought for the party. Anger towards both her and Mickey welled up inside of him, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t really their fault. Only three years. 

Even though she was barely around when he was, there were constant reminders of her; her bathrobe, makeup, underwear. Over the past few months he had grown used to her presence, yet sometimes he still found it unsettling. 

“I tried to get her to leave,” Mandy said, appearing at his side, shooting a dirty look at her sister-in-law. “But the whore heard the free booze and decided to invite some of her friends.”

“No big deal,” Ian said, filling his cup. “You enjoying your party?”

“I enjoyed kicking your ass in pong.”

“Yeah, well flip cup is more my kind of game,” Ian said. 

“Yo, douchebags, you done getting beer or are you just gonna hog it all night?” Mickey asked, suddenly standing behind the two of them. Ian turned around to look at him. He could tell he was pretty drunk; had been even before the game, and he could tell from his eyes that he had most likely done coke.

“All yours,” Ian said, moving aside. Despite the amount of room given, Mickey still shoved past Ian, letting his hand briefly brush against Ian’s crotch. Yup, he thought, definitely coke. Mickey always got handsy after a few lines. Too bad it made it almost impossible for him to get it up. Still, with Mickey the closest he had been to him all night, he felt his heartbeat quicken.

 

*******

Fuck, Mickey thought as he poured the beer. He glanced around to see if anyone but Ian had noticed; everyone was too drunk or just didn’t even care enough to be paying attention to them. That was stupid, he thought, stupid blow. In fact, this whole thing was stupid. He hadn’t even needed a beer; it had been full, but as he was standing there talking to Iggy he just felt the urge to be near Ian, so he had poured out his beer. 

When Mandy had first suggested the party he had refused to come, knowing that Ian would be there, along with half the neighborhood. If it had been a year earlier, Mickey knew he would have just ignored Ian until the end of the night when he wanted some action. He couldn’t do that now. He didn’t want to do that now and it scared him. Still, after a few hours, a couple of lines and a lot of beer, his anxiety began to subside and he realized that no one really gave a fuck who he was talking to. He was about to make a stupid comment when the younger Gallagher, Carl, Mickey remembered, showed up at his elbow.

“Pour me one?” he asked Mickey, who looked around. Ian was talking to Mandy and hadn’t noticed.

“Fuck off,” Mickey said. “Your sister would kill me.”

“What Fiona doesn’t know can’t hurt her,” Carl said. 

Despite the fact that he was like, 8, Mickey liked the kid. Once, when he had been bored and high he had decided to go over to the Gallagher house. He knew Ian had to work, so why not walk over there with him?

Of course, as soon as he had gotten there he had realized what a dumb idea it was and was about to turn around, but Carl had been outside. He made up some lie about Ian owing him money and somehow found himself sitting on the couch waiting for him to come downstairs. Carl had gotten him a beer and started questioning him about his favorite types of guns and knives. They had been in a conversation about the difference between two different types of knives when Ian had come downstairs. 

“Carl!” Ian said, finally realizing what his brother was trying to do. 

“Come on, I’m almost 11!”

“That doesn’t mean you can drink,” Ian said. “How about I teach you and Debs how to play flip cup…with water!”

“Fine,” Carl said.

If it had been up to Mickey he probably would have given the kid a beer. Fuck, he had been drinking since he was nine and his parents hadn’t given a shit. That’s the difference though, he thought. The Gallagher’s did care. They didn’t want Carl or Debbie ending up like them, or Frank, or even him. They wanted something better for their younger siblings, which Mickey could understand. In fact, it made him a little jealous. The most his brother’s had really ever done was take a few beatings and even that ended once they said he was old enough to handle it. 

Mickey watched as Ian rounded up his siblings and divided into teams: Lip, Fiona and Carl vs. Ian, Debbie and Mandy. Standing there, watching how easily they all got along and how well Mandy seemed to fit in with them, Mickey again, felt jealous. It was rare for him to hang out with his brothers if they weren’t getting high, selling drugs, or beating people up. 

Mickey moved a little closer to the laughing Gallaghers, aware that no matter how much time he spent alone with Ian or how close they had grown, he was not on the inside of this warm group. As Carl flipped the cup over on his first try and both teams cheered, the pang of jealousy grew. Never before had he been jealous of Ian’s bond with his family. Mostly, it annoyed him when he talked about them, although he had stopped mentioning it, given he was trying to keep him close. But being on the outside, with Ian so happy inside, hurt a little more than he wanted to admit. 

As if he could read his mind, Ian caught his eye and motioned for him to come and join them. There he had been feeling like he were invisible, and like so many times before, Ian had been the only one to really see him. 

“Come on Mick, come play.”

“The teams would be uneven, fucktard,” Mickey said, because he could never make things simple.

“I’ll play,” Kev said coming up, Veronica at his side. 

“Fine,” Mickey said, as if playing was worse than getting teeth pulled, but he couldn’t hide his smile from Ian. “All right, let me show you bitches how it’s done.”

*****

Mickey took the spot opposite Ian, which made it hard for him to concentrate. As much as he hated being this close to Mickey without being able to touch him, at least they were together. All of the apprehension he had felt about being around other people was washed away as he beat Mickey to the flip for the second time.

Beyond being around other people, Mickey was actually spending time with his family, and seemed to be enjoying himself, which was the last thing Ian had ever expected to happen. Although he had wanted this for so long, he had been unable to think of a way to integrate Mickey into his family without freaking him out, and Mandy had figured it out, whether she knew it or not. As he caught her eye, however, he got the feeling that this had been part of her plan all along. 

Ian was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize it was his turn until Mandy hit him. By the time he downed his beer, Mickey had already flipped the cup over.

“Better luck next time Gallagher,” he said with a smirk.

“You were bound to get one,” he retorted.

“Bullshit,” Mickey said. “I haven’t played in a while so I had to find my flow.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night man,” Ian said with a smile. 

 

They played a few more rounds until Fiona decided it was time for Carl and Debbie to go home. In the end, Ian’s team had won by three.

“Good game Mick,” Ian said, extending his hand.

“Whatever shithead,” Mickey said, ignoring his hand, but smiling. He walked away, putting the distance back between them, but Ian didn’t mind. 

The party continued until the early hours of the morning, winding down as more people headed home. By 2, the only people left was Mandy, who was swaying to the music by herself, bottle of whiskey in her hand, Lip and Joey, who were in some sort of heated debate, Iggy who was passed out on the picnic table, and Ian. Mickey was nowhere to be found.

Ian stood up and headed inside to look for Mickey. He made his way through the house, until he got to front door. He opened it to find Mickey sitting on the steps smoking a cigarette. 

“I was wondering how long it would take you to come and find me,” he said, looking up at Ian.

“You could have at least texted me,” Ian said sitting down. 

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“This was fun.”

“The party? Yeah not too bad.”

“No, this. Hanging out with you around other people and my family and everything. I thought it would be weird, but it was nice.”

“Don’t go getting all gay and me and shit,” Mickey said. But then he smiled and added, “But yeah, it was.”

“Want to know a secret?”

“What?”

“I missed that last shot on purpose. In beer pong.”

“Bullshit, you just suck.”

“No, I’m serious,” Ian said. “I let you win because you’re such a baby when you lose.”

“Fuck off. I’m so much better than you it ain’t even funny,” Mickey said, handing the cigarette to Ian. 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night Mick,” Ian said. They were quiet for a minute. Finally Mickey spoke.

“This.”

“What?”

“This helps me sleep at night,” he said looking at Ian. “Just being able to spend time with you. The fact that you put up with me.”

It was so unlike Mickey to say something so honest and personal that Ian was speechless. “Me too,” Ian said looking into Mickey’s eyes. “That, and knowing I can kick your ass in beer pong.”

Mickey laughed, took the cigarette from Ian’s mouth and said, “Rematch. One on one. Winner takes all.”

“You’re on,” Ian said standing up. He held out his hand to help Mickey up, and when Mickey held on a bit longer, Ian wasn’t surprised at all.


End file.
